Preparation For War Research Articles

Preparation for total war: ‘Military Service Preparation Camps’ in the Turkish education system in the early Republican Era (1926–1946)

Since the early nineteenth century, various ideologies have attempted to design education systems with an abundance of military attitudes for the future of the state and society, thereby benefiting paramilitary organizations and incorporating military educational practices into public education environments. In the aftermath of the two world wars, numerous countries, particularly nation-states, embraced the concept of militarised education systems. The incorporation of military methods into education dates back to the late Ottoman Period (after 1913). Following the establishment of the Republic in 1923, military courses were incorporated into the education curricula with the purpose of preparing the youth to confront the potential threats of war, fulfil security needs, and safeguard the homeland. After 1927, in addition to the theoretical courses, Military Service Preparation Camps were implemented. A decade later, this military camp approach was extended to all levels of education. As a result, the education system was transformed into learning environments where basic military skills and knowledge were taught. In this article, Military Service Preparation Camps, which were effectively implemented in the Turkish education system between 1926 and 1946, were investigated based on the primary sources and the recollections of individuals who actively participated in these camps. The primary objective of the military training camps, supervised and coordinated by the General Staff, was to ‘prepare youth for homeland defence and total war, and to promote military service’. In this vein, this study seeks to unveil the impacts of rigorous military training on Turkish society, particularly in the post-1945 era.

War, Public Opinion and the British Constitution, c. 1867–1914

By the late nineteenth century, questions were raised about the efficacy of the British political system to manage and prosecute modern wars. At the centre of these questions was the issue of public opinion, seen as a potentially detrimental influence on planning and preparation for future wars. This article outlines the late-Victorian and Edwardian views on the role between Britain's constitution and war, and shows how public opinion was brought up in discussions on how Britain's armed forces could be better prepared for future conflicts. It argues that, by World War I, British officers as well as civilian experts proposed various solutions to the country's perceived political problems and argued that the public could potentially be mobilised to side-line a lethargic parliament and the political parties. The article thereby follows in the wake of an increased interest in the intellectual and political history of war and military planning, and offers a new perspective on political thought in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.

Guns (Fire Arms) from Men at Home to Boys in the Bush in the Bamenda Grass Field: A Diagnosis of the Ongoing Armed Conflict Experience

The protracted claim of marginalization, subjugation, neglect, and disregard by individuals and political groups in the part of the Republic of Cameroon that was colonized by Britain known as Anglophone Cameroon metamorphosed into an armed rebellion in 2017. This came as a result of confused talks /dialogue sessions between the Cameroon government and the Anglophones Teachers/Lawyers trade Unions in Bamenda. While the Cameroon government played for time to implement the resolutions of the talks, the self-appointed leaders of the Anglophone communities who had been beating the drums of War on all social media platforms from their safe hoods in the Diaspora lost their patience and ordered an all recruitment of boys and girls into an army which went by different appellations. Without adequate preparations for War either in the dimension of training, money, or weaponry, so many people in Anglophone Cameroon were both persuaded and brainwashed to abandon their daily chores to join the ranks of the make-shift fighting scouts; amba militia that went by a myriad of appellations. The recruits profited from the chaos and disorder to seize guns that formed the nucleus of nobility, honour, and wealth of the people of the grass fields and took these arms of honour to their camps mostly in the bushes to carry out the War assignments. The prime target of the make shift militia as heralded by this deeply aggrieved faction of the English-speaking Cameroon was to secure a quick victory over the Cameroon army and agencies thereby, liberating Anglophone Cameroon from what they called colonization, domination, marginalization or, or imperialism. Guns at home in the Grass fields before 2017 were kept by dignified individuals mainly titled and wealthy men. The gun culture that reigned then was regulated both by a sort of intrinsic morale that formed a pattern of prestige and social effervescence beyond common compare but their mass seizure by these hurriedly formed boys under the guise of rage and furry became a source of worry and danger to the social, political and material wellbeing of the people within this niche. This paper has exploited primary and secondary sources to underscore the trouble encountered by this unfortunate guns shift from the houses to the bushes in the Bamenda grass fields. It argues that the guns at home and with dignified men served purposes that were for the most part peaceful and defensive but those in the bushes simply inaugurated an age of violence and wanton destruction uncommon to the grass fielders in all its historical time scale.

Mosque-based youth leadership cadre

The mosque is one of the most important places for the Muslim community to practice religious values (such as prayer and remembrance), which are also integrated with muamalah in their daily lives. However, in this era of modernization, there is a phenomenon that is quite strange and occurs in big cities like Yogyakarta, namely the decreasing awareness and interest of youths to visit mosques. When youths are away from the mosque, they tend to be free from control to engage in immoral behavior, for example, engaging in acts of delinquency. Therefore, an alternative model that is offered and can be used to overcome juvenile delinquency is to make the mosque a place for character building and the cadre of youths. Youth development in mosques aims to explore youth resources born from mosque-based programs to create youth who have noble and Qur'anic morals who can make a positive contribution to the benefit and welfare of society as a whole. Because historically, the mosque at the time of the Prophet Muhammad played a very important and broad role, that is, the mosque did not only function as a place of worship (such as praying, praying, and remembrance), but the mosque also functioned as a place for education and coaching of the people, a place for military training and preparation for war, a place to reconcile and resolve disputes, a place to receive envoys or delegates, a place to provide social assistance, and as a centre for enlightenment and defence of religion to build a glorious civilization.

Russian-Ukrainian War

The article by Ukrainian authors provides their view on preparation, execution and future prospects of the Russian-Ukrainian war. They examine the most significant military aspects of the Russian military’s preparation and execution of its escalated invasion of Ukraine; the most important military aspects of territorial defence and recent counter offensives; the further prospects in the coming months., the Russian church in Ukraine, the distribution of pro-Russian content in the information field of Ukraine etc. All of these events were elements of Russian "soft power" against Ukraine which created favorable conditions for the final blow by the so-called 2nd army of the world.

Just preparation for war and AI-enabled weapons.

This paper maintains that the just war tradition provides a useful framework for analyzing ethical issues related to the development of weapons that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), or "AI-enabled weapons." While development of any weapon carries the risk of violations of jus ad bellum and jus in bello, AI-enabled weapons can pose distinctive risks of these violations. The article argues that developing AI-enabled weapons in accordance with jus ante bellum principles of just preparation for war can help minimize the risk of these violations. These principles impose two obligations. The first is that before deploying an AI-enabled weapon a state must rigorously test its safety and reliability, and conduct review of its ability to comply with international law. Second, a state must develop AI-enabled weapons in ways that minimize the likelihood that a security dilemma will arise, in which other states feel threatened by this development and hasten to deploy such weapons without sufficient testing and review. Ethical development of weapons that incorporate AI therefore requires that a state focus not only on its own activity, but on how that activity is perceived by other states.

Irrigation pumps in late colonial Taiwan: Farmers’ utilization of technology and the transition to rice cultivation

AbstractThis article describes how Taiwanese farmers adopted irrigation pumps to enhance their livelihoods under the shifting relationship of sugar and rice production in late colonial Taiwan. I argue that farmers utilized commercial technologies to make a living and prosper within the established order of Japanese colonial rule. With allocated procurement districts granting exclusive purchasing rights over sugarcane, sugar companies maintained substantial influence over sugarcane cultivation. However, with the proliferation of Penglai rice and new agricultural implements, the situation of the farmers changed substantially. Serious problems in the sugar industry due to economic depression and the rising price of rice in the 1930s led farmers to shift from sugarcane to rice cultivation by introducing a variety of pumps. Those with the means installed new motor pumps, while others independently constructed wind pumps by combining newly introduced parts with older techniques. Despite a prohibition by the colonial government, farmers continued installing pumps until the government established a planned economy in preparation for war. Moreover, distribution of pump capacity through both sales and sharing shows that Taiwanese farmers sought to maintain an informal yet significant cohesion throughout the process of agricultural commercialization. By focusing on the social dynamics surrounding agricultural technologies, this article challenges simplistic portrayals of technology transfer from Japan to the colonies.

Problems of environmental protection as an aspect of military confrontation

One of the aspects of military conflicts is environmental. A specific and rather intense impact accompanies the conduct of hostilities and preparations for war on the environment. Although ecological damage is not usually a goal of warfare, such damage is integral to most armed conflicts. There is no single model of how war affects the environment. At the same time, war, like most human activity, changes the environment, damaging natural ecosystems and destroying human habitats. Numerous attempts to classify the environmental consequences of military confrontation boil down to the fact that it is expedient to distinguish direct and indirect implications on different scales and at various stages of military conflict. The destruction of natural systems of Ukraine during the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the accompanying environmental challenges are numerous and diverse: the use of ammunition and damage to enterprises of various industries, including the chemical industry, the rise of radioactive dust into the air due to the movement of heavy equipment in the Chornobyl zone and strikes on nuclear power plants and associated infrastructure facilities, destruction of gas pipelines and oil storage facilities, numerous fires in populated areas, mining of large areas and the impact of shock waves and combustion products on the components of natural and anthropogenically altered ecosystems, etc. The consequences of hostilities will affect nature, people, and society even after these actions are over. Among other things, the territories and objects of the PZF are in the risk zone. It is essential to record and document the facts of environmental crimes and develop long-term plans to neutralize their consequences.

The Inculcative Power of Australian Cadet Corps Uniforms in the 1900s and 1910s

The Inculcative Power of Australian Cadet Corps Uniforms in the 1900s and 1910s

Lessons that Lead to War: Foreign Policy Learning and Military Escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

ABSTRACT This paper examines Azerbaijan’s decision to go to war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. It aims to unveil the lessons Azerbaijan learned from the reaction of major regional actors in the South Caucasus to rising tensions in Armenian–Azerbaijani relations from the mid-2000s to the 2020 July border crisis. The paper argues that the consistent unresponsiveness of the international community emboldened Azerbaijan to proceed with its war preparations. It shows that Azerbaijan perceived the attitude of regional powers as inability and/or reluctance to interfere in the conflict, and this created a permissive environment for an all-out war.

PRC: history of regional inequality

The purpose of the article is to review the historical trends in the regional inequality of the PRC in the period before and after the start of the policy of reforms and opening up (1978). The history of China is characterized by regional inequality of provinces, autonomous regions and cities of central subordination of the main regions of the PRC: Eastern, Northeastern, Central and Western. Chinese researchers Wang Feng, Wang Yunhui, Gan Chunhui, Liang Longbin, Xiao Jincheng, Zhan Zhang conduct a comprehensive analysis of the causes and evolution of regional inequality before and after the start of the reform and opening policy. The consistent implementation of regional spatial transformation strategies has had a particular impact on regional inequality in China. After the founding of the PRC in 1949, industrialization was officially launched. There was a strengthening of the Eastern and North-Eastern regions, while the Central and Western parts of China lagged behind. In the mid 1960-ies taking into account the preparations for war, Mao Zedong proposed to carry out a three-line construction, which involved the placement of the main production facilities of the PRC in Central and Western China. Since the beginning of the reform and opening up policy, Chinas economic development has entered a stage of rapid growth. However, the economic growth of the territory of the PRC was extremely uneven, and the rates of economic growth in different regions varied significantly. Analysis of regional inequality indicators from 1978 to 2000 shows that 1990 marked a turning point in the evolution of regional inequality. It was not until 2003 that disproportionality in the PRC showed a downward trend.

AI Weapons and Just Preparation for War

AI Weapons and Just Preparation for War

War as an ecological catastrophe: minimization strategies

In this article, an attempt is made to assess the environmental harm from military conflicts, military-environmental problems. The authors note that military actions cause direct and indirect harm to all ecosystems, and the preparation and conduct of military operations require enormous material resources obtained through predatory exploitation of population and natural resources. Conditionally, the impact of war on the environment can be divided into four stages: preparation for war; maintenance and operation of military equipment and military facilities; direct military operations; postwar reconstruction.

ЗАНИМАТЕЛЬНАЯ ИДЕОЛОГИЯ, ИЛИ КАК РАССКАЗЫВАТЬ О ВОЙНЕ СОВЕТСКИМ ДЕТЯМ: ПОВЕСТЬ В. П. БЕЛЯЕВА «СТАРАЯ КРЕПОСТЬ» ВО ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЕ 1930-Х ГОДОВ

Vladimir Belyaev’s story about the Civil War “The Old Fortress” is considered against the background of the pre–war era as an instrument of ideological education. The work created a positive image of the Red Army, a negative image of the opponents of Soviet power. The view at the events of the period of the Soviet state’s formation through the prism of preparations for a new war in the 1930s blurred the specifics of the Civil War. The author used the universal techniques of dividing into insiders and outsiders, created an image of the enemy in accordance with the foreign policy situation, propagated militaristic and anti-religious views. The material of the study was the publications of the story and related short stories of 1936–1964 (the books of 1936, 1937 and 1939 were primarily considered) and the report of Vladimir Belyaev’s meeting with readers in 1938. The article aims to analyze the character system, the editing of the text and the historical context. The reasons for the popularity of the work among the reader and its successful publishing story are in combination of a fascinating adventure plot, the normalization of rule violations, imperfect teenage heroes, on the one hand, and a verified ideology, the emphasis of which the author changed depending on changes in the internal and foreign policy of the USSR, on the other.

Defence Strategic Review and Adapt: Implementing DSR as a Wargame

Australia’s Defence Strategic Review (DSR) has been completed, with the final report handed to Government (Prime Minister of Australia, 2023). In considering priorities for Defence capability and assessing force structure, posture and preparedness1, the DSR is likely to recommend difficult choices for a relatively small Defence Force which must live within necessarily-limited means. Much like in war itself, Defence’s ability to adapt to DSR outcomes will be crucial. Indeed, former defence official Paul Dibb has warned Defence requires ‘serious historical and cultural change’ to implement the DSR’s recommendations (Hurst, 2023). Such change could be painful, especially if each service views the DSR’s recommendations through the lens of a zero-sum game, with winners and losers. Doing so not only misses the point of the review itself, but diverts our attention away from an important—arguably unique—opportunity offered by the DSR: using it as a wargame to practise the kind of adaptability we will need to fight the next war. Australia’s current strategic circumstances, and their trajectory, mean we cannot afford to miss such an opportunity. This article discusses how the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) can use the DSR as a wargame to test its adaptability in a joint environment, and why doing so is an effective way to practice applying air and space power effects into the joint force, in preparation for the next war.

Veštačka inteligencija i psihološko - propagandne operacije u kontekstu ugrožavanja nacionalne bezbednosti

The key characteristic of international relations is their anarchy and in modern conditions this is manifested by the continuous performance of psychological-propaganda operations (PsyOp) by some actors against others. PsyOp represent the first stage in the preparation and implementation of a hybrid war, but they can also be an end in themselves. Over time, they have become an indispensable means of ensuring national security. National security is ensured by eliminating or relativizing the conflicting interests of rivals (enemies) against whom PsyOp are directed. A new moment in the application of this concept is the development and (mis) use of artificial intelligence (AI). The capacities of artificial intelligence for designing and implementing PsyOp far exceed human potential. It can introduce international relations into a stage of constant and permanent conflicts by carrying out continuous psychological-propaganda operations and starting hybrid wars that will never end. Another danger lies in the claim of the creators of AI that the AI has its own logic, and because of this, in the future, it will depend less and less on given inputs. In an anarchic environment, AI can independently induce and generate wars by conducting unpredictable PsyOp. The author's conclusion is that the combination of traditional anarchy and new technology worsens the national security of states, but indirectly also global security, and therefore it is necessary to think about different ways of limiting the use of AI in international relations.

Obavezno telesno vaspitanje - skrivena predvojnička obuka u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji

In the 1930s, the European continent was dominated by the fear of a new war, so almost all countries began to pay special attention to war preparations. In this context, great attention was paid to youth and their physical and military training. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, faced with many recruits unfit for military service, joined the European trend by introducing compulsory physical education into the social life of students and out-of school youth. This wording concealed the true nature of the new institution, namely pre-military education. Although the legislative solution was ideal in theory, in practice it had several weaknesses that did not allow the development of compulsory physical education. The legislature overlooked several important issues. First, there was a lack of trained teachers to teach the inmates. In addition, the law placed an excessive burn on the municipalities, which were unable to solve all the problems of organizing compulsory physical education, especially the material ones, since they were responsible for providing space and compensating teachers. The army also did not do everything in its power to provide the best possible support for pre-military training especially since the question of equipping the courses with weapons was not settled until before the April War began. Finally, the young people looked for ways to avoid the new obligation, so that less than half of the obligated participated the holiday courses. For this reason, the work results achieved were also not satisfactory.

China’s Techno-Economic Statecraft Amid US-China Strategic Rivalry: AI and the “New Whole-State System”

In 2017, the Chinese government launched the State Council’s Program for Developing the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which aimed to build China’s first-mover advantage by fully mobilizing and tapping its national R&D resources in both the public and private sectors. This article argues that the AI example illustrates how China resorts to a new “whole-state” approach to keep pace with the United States in key high-tech development. Such economic statecraft in advancing AI has allowed Beijing to generate faster effects in economic, social, and security dimensions. Beijing has made the application of AI in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) war preparation a state policy in order to compete with Washington in developing emerging technologies on an even footing. Particularly, the PLA regards the development of unmanned combat aerial vehicle equipment as the point of entry into the AI race against other top powers. Amid the US policy to restrict China’s advancement in AI, China’s new whole-state-system approach in AI R&D will continue to mobilize all available human and material resources to sustain the long and fierce competition with the United States.

الترتيبات العسكرية لمعركة قادش في 1274 ق.م في عصر الدولة الحديثة

تزخر معركة قادش بالعديد من الترتيبات العسكرية التي تعكس التطور الهائل في الاستعداد للحروب في القرن الثالث عشر قبل الميلاد؛ إذ تظهر الصور الناطقة التي تركها المصريون على بعض جدران معابدهم القدرة الهائلة على تنظيم القوات وتقسيمها والتطور الكبير الذي طال آلة الحرب، كما تسجل النصوص المصرية المصاحبة لتلك المناظر المصورة على جدران المعابد المصرية الرئيسة وبعض النصوص الحيثية التي كشف عنها في بوغاز كوي أخبار تلك المعركة التي عُدّت من أهم الحروب في العالم القديم. وتكمن أهمية الدراسة في أنها تبحث في واحدة من أهم معارك الشرق الأدنى القديم، والتي كان لنتائجها انعكاسات كبيرة على المنطقة، كما أنها أكثر معارك العصر البرونزي وفرةً في المصادر من الجانب المصري في مقابل ندرة المصادر الحيثية المتعلقة بالمعركة. ومن هنا جاءت مشكلة البحث، ففي حين تندر المصادر الحيثية المتعلقة بأحداث معركة قادش والمتاح منها يعود لأزمنة تالية للمعركة، تتوافر المصادر المصرية بدرجة كبيرة. وفي ظل عدم وجود مصادر محايدة، فإن هناك صعوبة كبيرة في التحقق من الترتيبات التي قام بها الطرفان والتأكد من ادعاء كلا الجانبين الانتصار. ويهدف البحث إلى تسليط الضوء من جديد على الترتيبات العسكرية لذلك الصراع الذي دار بين المصريين والحيثيين عند قادش والذي انتهى بعقد معاهدة سلام في عام 1270ق.م، ومحاولة التغلب على نقص المصادر الحيثية، وتجنب الوقوع فريسة لأبواق ادعاء النصر من الجانبين في ظل صمت المصادرة المحايدة، وذلك من خلال القيام بقراءة جديدة لواقع منطقة النزاع عقب الحرب من أجل الخروج بنتائج حقيقية وواقعية للمعركة. واعتمدت الباحثة في دراستها على المنهج التاريخي والوصفي والتحليلي القائم على استرجاع أحداث المعركة ووصف المناظر المصور للحصول على أكبر قدر من البيانات وتحليلها للوصول إلى النتيجة المرجوة. وخرج البحث بعدة استنتاجات تتعلق بتطور الفكر العسكري في إدارة الحروب، واستعادة توازن القوى في منطقة الشرق الأدنى القديم.

From Desecularization to Sacralization of the Political Language: Religion and Historiosophy in Vladimir Putin’s Preparations for War

This article aims to analyze religious and mystical elements contained in Putin’s public statements by referring to selected examples characteristic of contemporary Russian identity politics. In order to demonstrate the importance of religious and mystical threads in Putin’s speeches, we chose five specific cases. The analysis of these statements indicates that religious and mystical motifs in Putin’s language are an attempt at self-creation for the purpose of domestic policy. We claim that this self-creation is more of an effort to strengthen Putin’s public support than proof that he borrows patterns for shaping Russia’s political life from the Russian religious and political tradition. Putin’s rhetoric is not so much a desire for an axiological renewal of Russian politics but an attempt to search for the new legitimization of the power system he created in confrontation with the West.